Will the pace of the story be picking up any time soon? Half of the thread has been dealing with the last twenty years.
An Age of Miracles: The Revival of Rhomanion
- Thread starter Basileus444
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so basically it would be the usual Persia versus Roman Wars? how interesting. i assume they know a bit of history.
the cape is a good idea, but how they will keep the Latin ships out i have no clue. they cant fire on them all, and not all the states will take them seriously. and... new Zealand? its far to reach on both directions to it, and i doubt the land would be too much worth it, much less excersizing control over it.
As a note on the possible penal colony on New Zealand I don't think they would do it, for starters it's too far away and there's plenty of better places elsewhere. Maybe one of the Pacific Islands if you want a penal colony? If Southern Wu fails to take all of Australia you could even have Rhomaion carve a chunk off of the South Western/Southern coast and use that instead.
Dragos Cel Mare
Banned
What about the Andrean Islands/The Philippines? That said, I'd also like well-treated thassalocratic vassals there.
Maybe but Western Australia would prove useful both for minerals and because petroleum is located there as well.
Dragos Cel Mare
Banned
True that. And the Sultanates at Malacca might prove an obstruction to attempts to vassalize the Philippines.
I'm thinking some Indian state or another would be better placed to spread throughout the Indian Ocean basin. Even if the Romans get a Red Sea port, there's still a nice choke-point at the other end.
And the Ethiopians might not be friendly forever.
The exiled Wu in Australia might bring Australasia into the wider world much earlier than OTL--they're going to be trade with Indonesia and possibly pursuing anti-Tieh shenanigans.
And the Ethiopians might not be friendly forever.
The exiled Wu in Australia might bring Australasia into the wider world much earlier than OTL--they're going to be trade with Indonesia and possibly pursuing anti-Tieh shenanigans.
elkarlo
Banned
Loving it. Yeah the Timurid empire was way WAY too big to last across generations. Could see the non-muslim Mongols/Jurchens break away. Same with the Koreans. The Koreas, esp as they never did stay long under any foreign rule.
Be a while for the Rhomans to rebuild. Wonder if any trouble will be made behind their backs?
And yeah MAP!
Be a while for the Rhomans to rebuild. Wonder if any trouble will be made behind their backs?
And yeah MAP!
However those minerals aren't readily apparent as they're mostly inland, with some of those deposits in pretty inhospitable locations. It was also only after about half a century of settlement (of the east coast) that any notable deposits were discovered. And all the petroleum is offshore of the northwest coastline so there's no way they'd know about that till at least the 20th century (assuming rough OLT technological development).
Unless it was for political purposes (eg. denying it to other foreign powers) or ideology (eg. Manifest Destiny) colonizing Australia just doesn't seem plausible if you have the choice of colonizing somewhere closer with a better climate. The Portugese and Dutch knew about Australia for centuries before the British colonized the east coast - and the British only colonized Australia because they a) spent the time to look for somewhere more hospitable than the northern coastline known to the Dutch/Portugese and b) needed somewhere to dump the undesirables that they could no longer send to the Americas. Botany Bay wasn't a stop over on the way somewhere important, didn't have any apparent natural riches, had a climate most British (and colonizing Europeans for that matter) weren't used to, and didn't even have any developed native civilizations that they could trade with/exploit for their riches - its a wonder that the British initially decided to settle Australia at all!
For all intents and purposes Australia is pretty much the ass end of the world for any European colonizer. It only marginally better to any Middle-Eastern power, but only if they have access to the Red Sea and/or Persian Gulf, as they're somewhat closer then the European colonizers. Even then its much more likely they'd head somewhere with readily apparent riches (India/Ceylon, East Indies, Phillipines, Indochina ect.) or strategic worth (East Africa to prevent European colonization/way stations past the Cape Colony, Diego Garcia, and the other Indian Ocean islands.
Dragos Cel Mare
Banned
So that means that the Wu would have a hard time colonizing Austrailia. That reminds me, Basileius444 never started his thread asking what a Chinese Colonization of Australia would be like. Do you have more more insights to that? I would think that the introduction of Alien Species would prove a problem in the long term, just like in OTL.
Off-topic: Does anyone of you play Mass Effect?
Off-topic: Does anyone of you play Mass Effect?
Evilprodigy
Donor
I got one and two, have yet to get three but I plan to soon once I finish playing Prototype 2.
Elfwine: I wanted to avoid death-in-battle, because there'll be one near the end of the decade. And while realistic/reasonable, having Shah Rukh just croak it because of old age (something I half did with Timur) would have been really lame from a storytelling perspective.
Tapirus Augustus: I do want to pick up the pace, and there will be much less of the one year=one update, particularly after 1470ish.
Mathalamus: Somewhat like the Roman-Persian wars, but the Romans and Ottomans won't be at each others' throats all the time. In my old draft, between 1400-1670 the two only fought twice, although both wars were admittedly very big ones.
As for the Cape, it's not one hundred percent proof, but it's a superb place to base patrols to keep ships out, and it'd be the front part of a system of trading posts and naval bases along the east African coast designed both for trade and to keep others out.
As for New Zealand, that's a 'we've found all the nice places, now what?' item. And a Zealander penal colony would probably be a 'dump the prisoners and leave them to rot' system, not an actual administered colony. And of course, this all depends on how far the Wu get. When I came up with this idea, I hadn't thought of the Southern Wu.
Sidheach: Pacific Islands are even farther away if you're sailing from Egypt. I was originally thinking Australia as penal colony, but then the Wu happened.
Dragos Cel Mare: Well-treated thassalocratic vassals and dumping ground for convicts don't mix well.
O, yeah, I forgot about that. The Wu will have a hard time, but I think people from southern China might adapt better to Australian climate, particularly in the tropical north where they're currently located, than Europeans used to a more temperate climate.
MerryPrankster: If the Romans are pursuing a commercial empire in the Indian Ocean, maintaining good Ethiopian relations would be a high priority. In my old draft, I basically had the Romans and Ethiopians teaming up to dominate the Indian Ocean, which included beating up both local powers and the Portuguese. I think it's an arrangement that would work well, until the allies succeed.
elkarlo: I considered the Timurid-Tieh Empire too big to not fail. And we will see it fragmenting more, as the periphery breaks free of the core.
And of course there will be trouble. When is there not?
Artemetis: While the Southern Wu will bring Australia into the wider world much earlier than OTL, I agree with your points. Colonizing west Australia/New Zealand would be the 'We have trading posts from the Cape to Nagasaki, now what? I'm bored' stage of Roman exploration.
Tapirus Augustus: I do want to pick up the pace, and there will be much less of the one year=one update, particularly after 1470ish.
Mathalamus: Somewhat like the Roman-Persian wars, but the Romans and Ottomans won't be at each others' throats all the time. In my old draft, between 1400-1670 the two only fought twice, although both wars were admittedly very big ones.
As for the Cape, it's not one hundred percent proof, but it's a superb place to base patrols to keep ships out, and it'd be the front part of a system of trading posts and naval bases along the east African coast designed both for trade and to keep others out.
As for New Zealand, that's a 'we've found all the nice places, now what?' item. And a Zealander penal colony would probably be a 'dump the prisoners and leave them to rot' system, not an actual administered colony. And of course, this all depends on how far the Wu get. When I came up with this idea, I hadn't thought of the Southern Wu.
Sidheach: Pacific Islands are even farther away if you're sailing from Egypt. I was originally thinking Australia as penal colony, but then the Wu happened.
Dragos Cel Mare: Well-treated thassalocratic vassals and dumping ground for convicts don't mix well.
O, yeah, I forgot about that. The Wu will have a hard time, but I think people from southern China might adapt better to Australian climate, particularly in the tropical north where they're currently located, than Europeans used to a more temperate climate.
MerryPrankster: If the Romans are pursuing a commercial empire in the Indian Ocean, maintaining good Ethiopian relations would be a high priority. In my old draft, I basically had the Romans and Ethiopians teaming up to dominate the Indian Ocean, which included beating up both local powers and the Portuguese. I think it's an arrangement that would work well, until the allies succeed.
elkarlo: I considered the Timurid-Tieh Empire too big to not fail. And we will see it fragmenting more, as the periphery breaks free of the core.
And of course there will be trouble. When is there not?
Artemetis: While the Southern Wu will bring Australia into the wider world much earlier than OTL, I agree with your points. Colonizing west Australia/New Zealand would be the 'We have trading posts from the Cape to Nagasaki, now what? I'm bored' stage of Roman exploration.
Agreed on New Zealand, too far away and there's little reason to go there if you don't hold also something in western Australia (but in pre-industrialist times there's little reason to go there too, and that's also considering the Wu, which if successful in their expansion will most likely cover at least the eastern part). Maybe Madagascar could be a good option, never heard of strong kingdoms there, and maybe ITTL the Hindus will be more focused on south-east Asia and fending off the Muslims (if I'm not mistaken there was some kind of contact between Madasgacar and Indians).
About keeping the latins out, well South Africa is an important waystation, so quite a good screening is possible (total is impossible, and the foray of Basileus in 1600s at the start of the TL shows that portuguese are active in Indonesia). In the end western european trade activity yes, big territories in the Indian Ocean, forget it.
Hey, someone remembers that!
That was a lot of fun to write; unfortunately I made it while the TL was still really quiet. Agreed on Latin presence. There'd still be trading vessels, merchant quarters, and posts, but nothing like the Dutch East Indies or the British Raj if the Romans/Ethiopians can help it.
New Zealand it seems is a bad idea. Eh, I don't mind. I had originally intended for it to be Australia, which is more feasible, but then the Wu showed up.
Dragos Cel Mare
Banned
I need Krogan Names for a Mega Crossover RP I'm planning, can you help with that?
@Basileus 444 There are many Islands in the Philippines. You can have well-treated thassalocratic vassals in some, convict colonies in others.
Evilprodigy
Donor
Smash your keyboard and then throw in a few x's, k's, and q's.
That's the best I can give you.
For example:
Byx
Feqs
Jiked
Part Seven:
Great Halls and Evil Times
"The board is set. The pieces are moving. All that remains now is justice, and revenge."-Pope Julius I
1451: The Orthodox armies return home in triumph, with a week-long celebration in Constantinople complete with chariot races in the recently restored Hippodrome. In Targoviste Prince Dragos is welcomed as a great hero, the charge of his two thousand horsemen immediately becoming the stuff of legend, a tale of how the Vlachs, the weakest of the Orthodox Alliance, showed and led their brothers in the faith on the path to victory.
The new legend leads to the creation of a new banner for Vlachia. As a people with the blood of dragons, it is only fitting that their standard should have a dragon. Theirs is a red dragon, showing that the Vlach state was born in blood and war, on a black background, showing the night in which the Vlachs had slept before their dawn. And now the dragon is given three heads, representing the three dragons that showed the Vlachs the way to glory. The first is Dragos cel Mare, the second Vlad I Dracul, and now the third is Prince Dragos himself.
The banner of the Dragon Throne of Vlachia
In Georgia and Russia the mood is not so happy. Konstantin returns to Tbilisi in triumph, but without the desired head of Shah Rukh. Plus Mahmud, the one responsible for the destruction of Baku, is still Lord in Samarkand. Thus the King refuses to return the spoils and captives garnered in the cross-Caspian raids, in violation of the treaty at Taji.
In this he is supported by Alexei, who is still irked that Perm remains a vassal of Samarkand. Mahmud, having difficulties with all of his vassals and eyeing his brother’s domain (who is having similar vassal difficulties), cannot afford a continued conflict with Georgia and Russia. He ransoms his captives from Georgia, which though costly actually gives Mahmud badly needed support amongst the local populace. That somewhat compensates the Lord of Samarkand for the loss of Perm, as the need to pay funds to Georgia meant that the Permese no longer received their sweetener for their loyalty. In August they proclaim ‘eternal goodwill and friendship’ with Mahmud, but sever their ties of vassalage.
In Constantinople, Manuel of Kyzikos, a lowly skutatos, is catapulted to the heart of Imperial power when he is made the personal bodyguard of Prince Andreas. In that capacity, he spends much time with Alexeia, who upon her return to Constantinople has been giving her half-brother lessons in the use of the blade. Meanwhile the thoughts in the Blachernae quickly turn to war. Theodoros is determined to make the Venetians pay for the poisoning of his wife, and with Shah Rukh dead, the path is now clear.
However the standing formations of the Roman army, the Athanatoi, the Varangoi, and the Scholai (the Thulioi, largely wrecked at Adana, were disbanded after the battle) have all been gutted. Also the Anatolian soldiers took heavy losses of their own, with the seven tagmata mustering an active-duty roll call of fifty five thousand. The Empire is not ready for another war. So Theodoros waits, for now.
Alexeia actually proves to be an unexpected but welcome source of manpower. Tales of the daughter of an Emperor, born of a Swedish mother, who slew a Tatar giant, had begun to spread almost as soon as the Emperors’ Battle was over, making their way all the way back to her mother’s homeland. Landless Swedes, like their forefathers centuries before, take to the rivers of the Rus to sail to the City. Theodoros deliberately encourages this, as he was extremely impressed by Varangian performance at Taji and is eager to rebuild the Guard.
The most important Swede to arrive in Constantinople does not come because of the legend. His name is Gustav Olafsson, son of Olaf Tordsson, the Giant of Gotland, Bane of the Moors. His stint as King of Finland had been a very short and uncomfortable experience. Rumors that he had secretly converted to Orthodoxy had antagonized his relatives, while attempts to make tribute payments more regular had annoyed the Sami. In February he is toppled and forced to flee into exile like his father had. In the meantime the Bonde resume their tentative ties of vassalage with Sweden.
Like many of the Swedes who come to the Queen of Cities in search of gold or legends, Gustav soon joins the Varangian Guard. Unlike his father who left Gotland with a thousand men in tow, he fled with only a few dozen retainers and so is not considered a threat. Because of the Swedish immigration, the Guard actually regains its pre-war manpower rather quickly, although it will take much longer before the new recruits become as skilled with the axe and handgun as those slain at Taji.
Theodoros also puts the money he got for Galdan’s body to good use. Whilst in southern E-raq, the Roman soldiers seized samples of a new food crop as part of foraging expeditions, taking some back. The Emperor subsidizes the new cultivation. The crop actually flourishes the best in Greece, and helps provide a boost to the local economy and population. It is rice.
Also the Emperor puts the money (and more) into a new project on the Golden Horn. It is a copy of the Venetian Arsenal. Although it will take several years before it is completed, the Imperial Arsenal will be a series of factories and shipyards, each one producing a component of a vessel that will be fitted together to create an actual vessel, including purxiphoi. Coming with high walls for defensive and security reasons, as well as housing for workers as well as centers for rope and canvas production, over half again the size of the Venetian original, it is a huge undertaking. To oversee the creation of the shipyards, the best Trebizondian shipwrights are appointed as overseers and consultants.
Meanwhile in northern Germany, the Count of Oldenburg Christian VI, is elevated by the Holy Roman Emperor Conrad III (Duke of Bavaria Conrad II) Wittelsbach. He is now Duke Christian I of Oldenburg, Lord of the Northmarch. The latter is a new title, recognizing that the new duchy stands on the border of the Danish dominions in Germany. In the event of war with the Danes, the Duke is to be the captain-general of all Imperial forces in northern Germany.
1452: Early in the year the main event is the visit of King Charles I of Arles to Constantinople to see his old friend Theodoros IV. It is a social call, where the two monarchs renew the ties of friendship and trade between the two Mediterranean powers.
Charles is accompanied by thirty lances fournies, the new organizational unit of the Arletian army. The lances are ten-men squadrons, composed of a mounted knight, two sergeants at arms, two mounted archers (unlike eastern horse archers they dismounted when shooting), three halberdiers or pikemen, and two servants. Organized in companies of ten lances, each unit is assigned to and maintained by a district of Arles, providing the young kingdom with a professional, standing army.
It is something the kingdom needs. Both England-France and Lotharingia are under the rule of new monarchs, Henry IV in England-France, and Philippe I in Lotharingia. Both are young lords, eager to move out of the military shadows cast by their fathers, particularly Henry IV. In addition both are loyal sons of the Roman Catholic Church, with Pope Julius I actually the godfather of Henry.
As a way to bolster his defenses in the event of war, Charles has also forged diplomatic ties with the Bernese League and the Kingdom of Norway-Scotland, with his ducats also making their way to the hands of the ‘kings’ of Ireland. There are currently five, little more than local big men, whose ‘armies’ are mainly gangs of cattle rustlers. However Arletian coin and knowledge, sent via Aragon (who has some border disputes with English Aquitaine over the territories of the defunct kingdom of Navarre) is slowly starting to change that.
Charles is doing all this as a defensive measure; his gaze is still fixed on Provence and the Mediterranean, his memory full of the terror and bloodshed of the Ninety Years War and the reign of Francis the Butcher. But in the streets and roads of Provence and Occitania, a new generation is rising that does not remember those things. Instead they hear the songs of the troubadours, singing of the kings of old, and something is born in their hearts. For now it is just a seed, for now just a dream, but a dream of France.
Obviously the Romans have no such dreams; their hearts are set on other things. In the city of Acre there is an incident. On September 4, a Roman baker who had set up shop there on the edges of the Roman trading quarter is accused of serving spoiled meat pies (a true accusation). A fight breaks out, which soons turns into a riot that tears through the Roman quarter, burning and pillaging. By dawn of the next day, the district is in ruins, with over eighty of the locals and almost two hundred Roman citizens dead.
Immediately, there is outrage in Constantinople. Many still smart over the generous Mameluke treaty at the end of the Adana campaign and are eager to redress that issue. With Shah Rukh dead, Theodoros’ main argument for not doing so is gone. Also the Emperor is much more inclined to listen to the arguments. With the tensions between Samarkand and Beijing, trade along the Silk Road is suffering, while Qasim’s control of Hormuz has caused the Persian Gulf trade route to jump up in price. As a result, the Red Sea route, dominated by Mamelukes and Italians (once the Yemeni take their cut), is growing in prominence.
Thus Theodoros shelves his plans for dealing with Venice. In October the eastern banda cross the frontier in a series of raids while orders are dispatched to call up the tagmata for a spring campaign. Because of the state of the Anatolian divisions, the Helladic, Epirote, and Thracian tagmata will be assembled, leaving the defense of Roman Europe in the hands of the Italian and Macedonian tagmata, twenty thousand men. It is far less than the usual muster, but considering how badly Italian armies fared the last time they crossed swords with Rhomania (Dragos’ Genoese campaign), Constantinople is not concerned.
1453: In early April a two-prong offensive is launched against the Mameluke Sultanate. The first follows the old invasion route, through the Cilician Gate, down the road into Syria where the Hospitaliers join forces with the army. On April 25, the Roman army, forty one thousand strong (composed of the Thracian tagmata, along with a patchwork of the most intact Anatolian tourmai, plus the Hospitaliers) under the command of Alexios Palaiologos, crosses the Lipari, its first target the city of Tyre.
A week before an invasion fleet appears off the coast of Egypt. Unlike last time, they do not make for Damietta; the Romans have no interest in a pile of rubble. Their eyes are set on a far greater prize, a mighty port, a great city dating back to antiquity, long a jewel in the eyes of the Romans, Alexandria.
Vlad Dracula is in command, taking over from Isaakios Laskaris, his old commander at the Battle of Adana, who had retired in late 1451. He commands twenty six thousand men, the Epirote and Helladic tagmata (the latter fighting in familiar territory) and the six Italian cleisurai. Unlike Damietta, the city garrison is not caught off guard and manages to repel the initial attack.
For over a month the stout, newly rebuilt walls of Alexandria stand firm against the artillery bombardment. The deadlock is broken when two brothers, secretly Coptic Christians, leave a sally port open with Vlad’s knowledge, allowing him to infiltrate elite kontoubernions into the city during the night. On the morning of May 29, the Alexandrians awake to find the Romans already inside the walls. By the afternoon, the great metropolis is once again a Roman city, the first time in eight hundred years.
The Fall of Alexandria
The foreign quarters of the Pisans, Genoese, Sicilians, and Aragonese are left undisturbed and intact. The Venetian district is not as lucky with the entire region and all its possessions confiscated. The furnishings and contents of the homes and warehouses are distributed to the soldiers as booty, but the lands and buildings are given back to the original Coptic owners (if present) who had lost them years earlier when Janbulat expanded the Venetian zone.
However after the fall of the city, Roman progress in Egypt slows to a crawl. In the Levant the Roman advance is also tepid at best. Sultan Janbulat, with a lighter battleline, declines to offer battle against the Romans, instead using Fabian tactics. Using light cavalry, he snips at supply lines, scouts, and foragers but avoids open battle. Keeping his men concentrated, if just out of reach, also forces Alexios to keep his own, rather small (the army in Anna I’s war against the Mamelukes in the 1320s was larger), army concentrated, rather then breaking up to conduct multiple sieges.
Because of the difficulty of supplying the army by land, much of the Roman fleet is active off the Syrian coast ferrying supplies. The remainder are cruising off the Nile delta, attempting to stop Venetian blockade runners. The fall of Alexandria has made it much more difficult for the Serene Republic to ship in arms, but still the galleys make their ways into the ports of Cyrenaica and villages along the Delta.
Janbulat had asked Doge Dandolo to intervene militarily, but had been told that it would be two years before the Serene Republic is ready. The Sultan is annoyed, but somewhat placated both by the extremely generous shipments of arms and the promise that when Venice does strike, it will be absolutely crushing.
For all of the Venetian aid and the Mamelukes’ Fabian tactics, it is only enough to slow the Roman advance, not stop it. While in Egypt Vlad is penned up in Alexandria by clouds of light cavalry falling on any columns that advance from the city, in Syria Tyre falls in late June, Acre in early August. Finally Alexios moves on a position that Janbulat must defend, Damascus.
Janbulat attacks just outside the city, falling on the Roman columns with waves of light Arab cavalry and Sudanese infantry, holding the Mamelukes in reserve. Despite his numerical superiority (50,000 to 38,000) the Sultan still fights cautiously, aware that the bulk of his troops cannot match skutatoi or kataphraktoi in melee. Then Alexios counterattacks, mass arrow volleys preceding a sally of the kataphraktoi and skythikoi. While the Arabs wheel out of the way, the Sudanese are caught and chopped to bits, but they stall the Roman advance as the carefully husbanded Mameluke heavy horsemen roar into action.
The cavalry melee is a brutal slugging match, both sides smashing each other with maces. When the skutatoi advance to support their mounted comrades, Janbulat sends his light cavalry back in to nip at their flanks. The attacks cause little harm, but it gives the Mamelukes the time they need to retreat in good order. When night falls, ending the battle, Janbulat’s army has sixty seven hundred casualties, but inflicted forty three hundred on the Romans.
For over two weeks there is a stalemate, as Alexios tries to force another battle or besiege Damascus, Janbulat maneuvering to prevent that. On September 3, the deadlock is broken when turkopouloi find a Mameluke supply caravan and burn it, forcing Janbulat to fall back due to lack of provisions. On September 7, Damascus is placed under siege.
1454: Spring finds Vlad still in Alexandria, still unable to move up the Delta. In the Levant, Alexios captures Damascus in February. Due to horrid winter conditions, frequent garrison sallies that disrupted the artillery bombardment, as well as Damascus’ modern defenses (designed by Venetian siege engineers), the city had managed to hold out for over six months.
After three weeks of gathering supplies and reinforcements, Alexios resumes his march south, harried by light cavalry. The advance is slow, with the Romans forced to take every little hill fort and stockade to deny refuges to the Mameluke skirmishers. The unusually hot, even for Syria, summer weather doesn’t help, although that issue is partly solved when the Romans arrive in the Jordan River valley. Still Janbulat does not attack directly, preferring his waves of skirmishers. Despite all the difficulties, Alexios pushes on, and eventually he is rewarded. For on October 9, the city of Jerusalem, the Holy City, is placed under siege.
In Constantinople, as winter falls, the Imperial family begins to break up for the coming year. Alexeia departs for Coloneia, while Anastasia and Irene remain in the capital. Theodoros travels to join the army at Jerusalem, accompanied by the Varangians and the bulk of the Athanatoi, while the Empress Helena, Zoe, and Prince Andreas elect to spend the winter and spring in the Komnenid palace at Smyrna.
In Italy too, things are stirring. Doge Dandolo had told Janbulat he would need two years, and he has gotten them. As 1454 ends, Venetian vessels have been trickling into Crete, swelled by every pirate ship Venetian and papal coin can buy. As 1455 begins, they start to move. In Italy itself Papal and Neapolitan armies join ranks, marching south as the long oppressed Italian peasantry in Roman Italy explodes into revolt. To the east, the armies of Serbia, Varna, and Vidin pour across the border, burning and pillaging.
And in late March, the Serene Republic itself moves. In Crete the Lion of Saint Mark has assembled the greatest fleet Venice has ever seen, one hundred and eighty two ships, with five hundred cannons and forty four thousand men. As the sun creeps beyond the horizon to gaze down upon the Aegean on April 10, it spies a black tide, a great forest of masts, festooned with red and gold banners, the Lion of Saint Mark, sword in paw, advancing on the coast. The Black Day of Rhomania has begun.
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Legend for the Map:
1) The Kingdom of Arles
2) Minor German and Italian States
3) The Duchy of Oldenburg
4) The Republic of Genoa
5) The Republic of Florence
6) The Papal States
7) The Kingdom of Naples
8) The Most Serene Republic of Venice
9) The Kingdom of Serbia-Bosnia
10) The Kingdom of Vlachia
11) The Duchies of Vidin and Varna (Roman vassals, currently in rebellion)
12) The Duchy of Milan
13) The Teutonic Order
14) Realms of the Shahanshah of the Persians
15) The Principality of Presporok (Polish vassal)
1) The Kingdom of Arles
2) Minor German and Italian States
3) The Duchy of Oldenburg
4) The Republic of Genoa
5) The Republic of Florence
6) The Papal States
7) The Kingdom of Naples
8) The Most Serene Republic of Venice
9) The Kingdom of Serbia-Bosnia
10) The Kingdom of Vlachia
11) The Duchies of Vidin and Varna (Roman vassals, currently in rebellion)
12) The Duchy of Milan
13) The Teutonic Order
14) Realms of the Shahanshah of the Persians
15) The Principality of Presporok (Polish vassal)
Let's see, Italy is lost....again
The Balkans will be ravaged.....again
Constantinople itself may be placed under siege, only Hungarian or Vlachian intervention may save the City, though it will carry a heavy debt toward both Kingdoms. The Ottomans will not help and both Georgia and Russia are too far to contribute much.
Anatolia itself may be secure, but its armies are mauled and will take time to get back into shape. The bulk of the fighting will be in Egypt and the Levant. The Romans must finish off the Egyptians and Venetian reinforcements, and do it quickly....or there may not be a home to go back.
The naval war....that theater will decide the results of the war, glorious victory or terrible defeat
The Balkans will be ravaged.....again
Constantinople itself may be placed under siege, only Hungarian or Vlachian intervention may save the City, though it will carry a heavy debt toward both Kingdoms. The Ottomans will not help and both Georgia and Russia are too far to contribute much.
Anatolia itself may be secure, but its armies are mauled and will take time to get back into shape. The bulk of the fighting will be in Egypt and the Levant. The Romans must finish off the Egyptians and Venetian reinforcements, and do it quickly....or there may not be a home to go back.
The naval war....that theater will decide the results of the war, glorious victory or terrible defeat
- Status